Global bloodshed in Aus: is the worst over?

After the horrors of late 2008, the international banks might have begun to reduce the rate of their redundancies here. And the indications are that Australia will be proportionally less affected by global headcount reductions than the US and Europe.

Take UBS. Earlier this month global CEO Marcel Rohner announced 2000 job cuts worldwide from its investment banking division. But it looks as if Australia will not contribute much, if anything, to this figure. A UBS spokeswoman tells us that she doesn't expect any cuts.

"All banks and financial institutions are looking at areas that are underperforming, but that is standard practice at any time...We've just taken on nine advisers from Macquarie and Goldman Sachs, and hired another investment banker," she adds.

Even struggling Citigroup - which axed jobs in Australia last year and is still trimming globally - might have already done most of its domestic downsizing. A spokeswoman says most of its cuts happened late last year. While it's too early to say if there are more on the horizon, she feels confident in saying that the worst is over.

Recruiters agree that we have probably seen the back of the really large i-banking layoffs. "There may be some still to come, but if so the focus will be more overseas than here," says Simon Tobin at Michael Page.

Do you think the globals have already cut to the bone? Or will we see more mass redundancies later this year? Give us your comments below.